TSC urges teachers to use social media responsibly

DAILY NATION By FAITH NYAMAI

Thursday February 09,2017

The Teachers Service Commission has cautioned teachers against irresponsible use of social media which may portray the profession in bad light.

Speaking on Tuesday in Nairobi during the celebrations of safer internet, Mary Rotich, TSC director of Teacher Management, said the Commission’s Act compels teachers to behave responsibly both in school and even on social media.

“The Act gives us power to monitor the conduct of teachers, as the TSC we are thinking of starting to monitor what teachers exchange on social media. If you post irresponsible information on social media, such things do not show good conduct,” she said.

Lobby calls for internet freedom, urges responsible use of social media

DAILY NATION By LILLIAN MUTAVI

Friday February 03, 2017

A civil society that promotes effective and inclusive ICT policy in Africa has called for internet freedom in Kenya and responsible use of social media.

The Collaboration on International Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) has also condemned national and county governments for harassing bloggers, social activists and even journalists who use social media platforms to highlight issues of human rights, corruption and bad governance among other ills.

Airtel Kenya begins 4G Internet test run next week

Airtel, the country’s second largest telco, said the trial phase would initially cover 40 new sites in the city before being expanded to 45 others in major towns, including Mombasa and Kisumu by the end of March.

“Airtel Kenya remains committed to competing in the Kenyan market and providing choice to Kenyans by further investing in the rollout of 4G services and continued network expansion,” said Airtel chief executive Adil El Youssefi.

Small businesses in need of ICT knowledge

DAILY NATION By NDIRITU MURIITHI

Monday January 23, 2017

Kenya has taken a leap towards recognition of the importance of the informal sector by publishing the first comprehensive survey on the industry.

The ‘Micro, Small & Medium Establishments Basic Report’ compiled by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics provides vital data for policy makers, researchers and investors interested in the sustainability of small businesses that contribute a third of the GDP and employ some 15 million people.

In fact, they employ more people than the formal sector.

Technology has become embedded in business operations and, therefore, the report would not have been complete without a chapter on use, gadgets and knowledge of Information Technology (IT).

ICT wishes as we approach 2017 elections

DAILY NATION By JOHN WALUBENGO

Wednesday January 04, 2017

So we are finally in the new year. If Father Christmas was reliable and able to deliver on his promises, what are the things I would ask for?

Top of the list would of course be that in August 2017, the electoral electronic systems would work. A lot would depend on that. Correction, everything will go up or down in Kenya depending on how we navigate through the 2017 election.

I would wish that the ICT Cabinet secretary would stop talking about Al-Shabaab terrorists coming to hack our electronic systems or blow up the communication masts that would have otherwise transmitted the election results.

Provision of tablets pushed to March

The provision of tablets to Standard One pupils which was supposed to be concluded this month has now been pushed to March.

Out of the targeted 1.2 million pupils, the government has only provided about 200,000 pupils with the devices.

The Jubilee government’s flagship project of providing tablets to public primary schools, has been elusive since 2013 and President Kenyatta had promised that it would be concluded by the end of this year.

ICT Authority acting chief executive Robert Mugo said the delays in production from China had led to the spillover effect.

On electronic polling, both Cord and Jubilee are needlessly hard-line

DAILY NATION By JOHN WALUBENGO

Tuesday December 20, 2016

Parliament has been summoned to meet today and discuss urgent matters, one of which is about changing the law to allow the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to fall back to manual systems in the event electronic systems fail.

The battle lines have already been drawn, with each side of the political divide screaming valid points for or against the motion.

On one hand, we have the self-declared ‘digital’ government wishing to have manual systems on standby, ready to take over in the event electronic systems fail.

Governors call for audit of financial management system

DAILY NATION By SILAS APOLLO

Monday December 05,2016

Governors have called for a forensic audit of the integrated financial management system.

In a statement on Sunday, the governors said the system – introduced to reduce corruption in the government payment structure – had experienced "serious hitches, leading to pilferage of billions of taxpayers’ shillings”.

That, the Council of Governors added, had further been compounded by poor coordination of departments running the system, including the National Treasury, the Central Bank of Kenya and devolved units.

Communications Authority told to roll out 3G before poll

DAILY NATION By PATRICK LANG'AT

Wednesday November 30 2016

Parliament on Tuesday directed the Communications Authority of Kenya to roll out a 3G network countrywide to be used in the 2017 elections, in a raft of proposals to right the many wrongs in the 2013 poll.

Currently, only 17 per cent of the country is 3G enabled yet equipment for the August 8 elections will use the network to transmit scanned copies of results to constituency tallying centres.

Good system with bad managers is the country’s biggest challenge

DAILY NATION By KENNETH OKWAROH

Monday November 28, 2016

I once wrote a case study report for Kenya on the status of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation in 2014. Part of my report lauded the government for significant progress in establishing systems to facilitate effective management of public money.

My research team was optimistic that with such reforms as the enactment of the Public Finance Management Act 2012, the operationalisation of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis), review of procurement regulations, among a raft of many other finance sector policy reforms, Kenya was on track towards better handling of public finance.